Psychiatric Bulletin (2009) 33: 426-428. doi: 10.1192/pb.bp.108.023010
© 2009 The Royal College of Psychiatrists
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Carers’ clinics: support group for carers of heroin addicts

Sanju George, Consultant and Senior Research Fellow in Addiction Psychiatry

*The Bridge Substance Misuse Service, Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health NHS Trust, Birmingham, B37 7UR, email: sanju.george{at}bsmhft.nhs.uk

Sylvie Boulay, Team Manager, Helen Jones, Carers’ Representative, Colin Bartlett, Users’ Representative and Tim Farley, Service Manager

The Bridge Substance Misuse Service, Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health NHS Trust

Chris Clarke, Solihull Drug Action Team Commissioner

Declaration of interest

S.G., S.B. and H.J. jointly organise, and S.G. and S.B. facilitate these sessions. They offer their time voluntarily.

Heroin addiction, being a chronic condition, can have a devastating impact on carers of addicts. However, the information and support needs of carers often go unrecognised and unaddressed. ‘Carers’ clinics’ are one such information-sharing and support group for carers of heroin addicts. This simple yet innovative service provision has been enthusiastically recieved by carers and has been running effectively since April 2007. We believe this scheme can be replicated across other services.